Wizards blow second half lead, lose to Blazers 116-109.

The Wizards lose a wild one in Portland 116-109 in their first overtime game of the season. Damian Lillard scored 41 points to go along with 11 assists. His backcourt mate CJ McCollum scored 18 points and you can add this duo to the list of backcourts that are better than Washington’s.

Ramon Sessions was the lead scorer for the Wizards with 21 points tonight. John Wall and Marcin Gortat both logged double-doubles but it wouldn’t be enough.

Things got chippy when Alan Anderson and Gerald Henderson got tied up in the first quarter. The two shoved each other resulting in Anderson throwing an elbow in Henderson’s face that would get him ejected.

The Blazers outplayed the Wizards in the first half but committed too many turnovers and the Wizards took advantage. The Wizards would end the half on a 17-6 run to take a 55-54 lead at halftime.

Whoever gave the halftime speech needs to bottle that up. The Wizards stormed out to a 12-0 run to start the third quarter and take a 67-54 lead. The Blazers would answer with a run of their own to take a 85-81 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Wizards looked dead in the water but Jared Dudley came to the rescue with a three-pointer from the top of the arc to give the Wizards a 101-98 lead with 16 seconds to play. The Wizards would miss free throws and CJ McCollum would hit a jumper to tie this game and send it into overtime.

Damian Lillard took over in the overtime whereas the Wizards looked tired. Lillard would cross up Wall and finish with a layup to stretch the lead to four, 113-109. The Blazers would close this one out as the Wizards drop to 30-33 and the playoff picture looks bleaker and bleaker by the game.

Free Throw Shooting: I’m just going to rant on one topic because this cost the Wizards the game. The Wizards were a pathetic 11-23 (48 percent) from the free throw line tonight. Wall was 1-4, Nene 2-4, and Sessions was 2-5. Poor free throw shooting finally cost this team a victory.